Military

SHAPE News Summary & Analysis

16 June 2004

AFGHANISTAN

• According to Viby Jyllands-Posten, Prime Minister Rasmussen announced Tuesday that Denmark will increase its contingent in Afghanistan. “We intend to increase the Danish military contribution to Afghanistan, but have not yet put any exact number on this,” he reportedly said. The newspaper noted that the announcement came a few hours after President Karzai called on NATO to send additional peacekeepers to his country ahead of the September election.
  
  
• Germany will establish a second PRT in Afghanistan without the participation of other countries, reports Financial Times Deutschland. It will be set up in the town of Feyzebad near the Kunduz region, the daily adds, quoting Defense Ministry officials. The article recalls that in April, the German government had said the PRT would be run jointly with the Netherlands. It adds, however, that the Dutch government has now decided to establish its own PRT in another location. Claiming that “NATO is playing number games” with PRTs, the article adds: “Five new PRTs have been firmly promised by the end of June…. So far, NATO can come up with four PRTs only by applying a rather unconventional method of counting. The second German PRT in Feyzebad was originally planned as sort of a branch office of the Kunduz-based PRT…. Apart from the Kunduz branch office now elevated to the status of a PRT, NATO will get another PRT from the British, which originally had not been intended as such. Britain will place its PRT at Mazar-I-Sharif, which has so far operated under Enduring Freedom, under the command of ISAF. London is planning to establish a new PRT in north-western Afghanistan. According to information, the fourth new PRT is to be established by the Dutch at a location that has yet to be determined.” Noting that in Washington Tuesday, President Karzai called for a reinvigorated commitment by NATO to provide security for the upcoming elections, the article adds: “Measures envisaged include the temporary deployment of the NATO Response Force. But NATO first hopes that the old promises can be met. Any further steps are to be discussed after the Istanbul summit.”
  
  
• Reuters quotes officials saying Afghan rebels exploded a bomb near a German military vehicle in the northern province of Kunduz Wednesday, killing at least four Afghans. The blast, possibly triggered by a remote control device, occurred near a vehicle belonging to the German-run PRT, the officials said. According to the dispatch, the province’s governor would not rule out the possibility that the PRT vehicle could have been the target of the blast. Another Reuters dispatch quotes an ISAF spokesman saying no peacekeepers were hurt in the incident. The dispatch remarks that Wednesday’s blast came hours after a rocket hit a military base near the main base of the NATO-led peacekeepers in Kabul, wounding an Afghan soldiers. It stresses that attacks by militants and the slow pace of the disarmament of tens of thousands of factional fighters have raised doubts about the wisdom of trying to hold polls in September.

NATO

• France’s Le Monde carries an interview with NATO Secretary General de Hoop Scheffer in which, in the buildup to the NATO summit, he discusses a possible Alliance role in Iraq and the Middle East. Mr. de Hoop Scheffer is quoted saying: “The heads of state and government will be discussing Iraq in Istanbul. It would be strange if they did not do so. But the key to the question (as to whether NATO will play a role in Iraq) is to be found in Baghdad. Not in Brussels, or Paris, or Washington…. There is a Security Council resolution and after June 30, there will be an interim, but 100 percent legitimate government in Baghdad…. It will be up to the government to decide whether or not it wants NATO to perform a role.” Reacting to the interviewer’s observation that in Afghanistan, NATO countries are finding it difficult to extend their mission, he expressed the hope that a decision would be made in Istanbul on the establishment of five PRTs and added: “I hope that in Istanbul we will agree on a model setting out the criteria for the capabilities expected from each member country and above all, a long-term engagement, because we are engaged in missions that require continuity.” Queried on NATO’s possible role in the “Greater Middle East,” Mr. de Hoop Scheffer reportedly replied: “I believe that the heads of state and government will decide to strengthen the dialogue that we have had for the past 10 years with the countries of the Mediterranean, the Maghreb, Israel, Jordan. It could be extended to the countries of the region concerned. The feelers that we have put out have been positive, except perhaps in Egypt. It is not a matter of imposing anything on anyone, but of seeing what various parties could derive from cooperation.” He stressed, however, that there must be no confusion between the NATO initiative and the U.S. Greater Middle East initiative. Elsewhere, the newspaper argues that to have a fully sovereign Iraqi government, it will be necessary to wait until elections scheduled to take place in January 2005. “Only after that will the UN be able to reply to a request by authorities in Iraq and give a mandate to a regional organization, most likely NATO, to contribute to the country’s security,” the newspaper asserts. It acknowledges, however, that in the next few months, many interim solutions exist. It implies this may include a NATO role in training Iraqi security forces. NATO might also deploy its AWACS to watch Iraq’s borders.

ACTIVE ENDEAVOR

• According to AFP, the German navy will not prolong its anti-terrorism patrols off Gibraltar when the current mission wraps up at the end of the month. The dispatch quotes a Defense Ministry spokesman saying in Berlin today the mission, which involves around 200 troops and three speedboats, would end because the force was “under-employed.” The dispatch notes that the navy accepted in March a request by NATO, which is in overall charge of operations, to prolong its mission by three months until the end of June. The ships have been used to search for potential terrorist supply routes, carry out coastal watch duties and ensure the safety of transport vessels as part of NATO’s “Active Endeavour” anti-terror role in the Mediterranean, adds the dispatch.